


Safe Inside

by MoonlightBreeze



Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers & Maggie Sawyer in Love, Alex Danvers Needs a Hug, And she gets that hug, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Hallucinations, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Sleep Deprivation, Supportive Maggie Sawyer, Timeline What Timeline, Whumptober 2020, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27127111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightBreeze/pseuds/MoonlightBreeze
Summary: When Alex hallucinates Astra after days of no sleep, Maggie is there to help her.Whumptober 2020 prompt fic - HallucinationsHappy ending!!
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950094
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Safe Inside

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! This fic is written for the Whumptober prompt - hallucinations. I loved writing Supergirl fanfiction the other day, so I decided to do it again! I just watched 2x14, where Maggie comforts Alex after her father's betrayal, and I am _soft_. They're so tender and loving and kind to each other and I - *screams*
> 
> Anyways.
> 
> A quick disclaimer: I have no idea how sleep deprivation hallucinations work, and the Internet wasn't very helpful, so I apologise if this is grossly inaccurate. Also, my 'Timeline What Timeline' tag is REAL. Seriously, don't try and work out a timeline here. It's a mess.
> 
> Warnings for sleep deprivation, non-violent hallucination, and implied/referenced alcoholism! Please keep yourselves safe. <3
> 
> I really hope you like this!! Kudos make my day and comments validate my existence, so please feel free to leave those, if you want :) And, as always, I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
> 
> ~ Em

Alex stumbled into her apartment, only having half a mind to lock the door behind her and drop her keys into the glass bowl on the kitchen table. She was so tired, it hurt. The world looked a little hazy and unreal. Exhaustion made her eyelids heavy, and when she tried to smile, tried to be happy about finally coming home, it felt foreign and forced.

An alien, a nasty breed that Alex had never tangled with before, was wreaking havoc on National City. It had put Supergirl down for the count and J’onn & Guardian were injured trying to contain it. Kara was angry and self-righteous, demanding that James stop his crusade as Guardian, and Alex had somehow landed herself the unfortunate job of mediator to their fights. All in all, it was a battle that spanned three days, ending with the alien being killed at the hands of Supergirl, J’onn, and Guardian together, and Alex couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept. 

Alex didn’t bother changing out of her gear; she simply unholstered her weapon and took off the tactical belt before collapsing onto the couch, her entire body groaning with the effort. Maggie was going to be home soon. Alex knew she didn’t have to wait for her, but she didn’t think she was going to be able to sleep, even after three days of exhaustion and fighting, without her girlfriend next to her. Emotions were too high and Alex felt stretched thin, vulnerable in a way she hated to be. Maggie would help. 

The apartment was silent, and Alex could hear every drip of her leaky faucet, every groan and creak of the floorboards, every time the wind whistled against the glass windowpanes. It made her shudder uneasily. She shook herself, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. She was a DEO agent, for fuck’s sake, and she was afraid of a few noises in the night? Shit, she had to get it together. 

Alex was about to pull out her phone and text Maggie, partially out of a subliminal desire for comfort and partially out of boredom, when she saw it. 

In her peripheral vision, a familiar figure stood regally in Alex’s apartment. 

“Impossible,” she muttered. She stumbled away from the figure, nearly tripping over the edge of the couch. “You’re supposed to be dead!”

Astra said nothing in response. 

Alex grabbed for her gun, but she knew regular bullets would do nothing against the Kryptonian. _Fuck_ , she cursed to herself. She didn’t have any Kryptonite; why would she? Kara came over often, and Superman had made it clear how he felt about the DEO having Kryptonite in the first place. While she tried to pretend they didn’t, Alex knew that her cousin’s opinions had a way of shaping Kara’s own. Kryptonite was a touchy subject, and Alex wasn’t about to risk her relationship with her sister just to be better prepared in case of a situation like this. 

Now, one hand locked firmly around her gun and the other grasping for the doorknob to get away, Alex regretted that decision.

By now, several seconds had passed and Alex was growing more and more confused. Astra wasn’t doing anything, wasn’t saying anything. She wasn’t trying to attack Alex or launching into another bullshit campaign speech about Myriad. She was just standing there, watching, staring straight through Alex with her dark eyes that matched Kara’s almost perfectly, and Alex saw the woman who had showed up at Kara’s apartment to tell her about the Black Mercy, to save her niece from Non’s master plan. Alex saw the woman, not the enemy, that she had killed. 

She let out a little sob, surprising herself. Astra’s death was in the past. It was _weeks_ ago. Alex had already tore herself apart for one night over it; she’d drank a little too much in a dingy bar, she’d screamed and cried and apologised to Kara profusely with a series of drunk texts that Kara politely chose to ignore. Alex had gotten past her murder, her sacrifice. She didn’t have any reason to be upset again, once more. 

Alex turned the door handle and slipped outside, hoping to stop whatever it was that was happening. Maybe Astra would disappear or go away when she was outside the apartment? She didn’t seem in any hurry to hurt Alex, if she was even the real Astra. This was someone’s sick idea of a joke, it had to be. Or maybe someone had found a way to bring Astra back to life or, maybe, this was Astra’s ghost. But whoever it was, _whatever_ it was, Alex didn’t want to be anywhere near it. 

To her despair but not complete surprise, Astra followed her outside. She seemed to glide through the door, further reaffirming Alex’s ghost theory. Or maybe she’d been drugged. Maybe she was hallucinating. All she knew was that this version of Astra didn’t have soulless eyes; this version of Astra had full, lively eyes that screamed of hope and second chances and redemption. She looked so much like Kara in that moment that Alex wanted to cry. 

“Alex?” 

Maggie’s voice snapped Alex out of her daze, and she whirled around to lock eyes with her girlfriend. Maggie was wearing dark jeans and a flannel, her weapon tucked into her belt, and she scrutinized Alex with worried eyes. 

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Maggie’s tone grew more and more concerned as she advanced on them. “Why are you standing in the middle of the hallway?” Maggie’s eyes widened when she caught sight of the gun in Alex’s hand. “Why do you have your gun out? Is somebody here?” Maggie pulled her own gun free, abandoning the stack of files she was carrying to join Alex, looking around frantically for the threat.

“Right there!” Alex screamed, pointing in front of her to where Astra floated just above the ground in front of the door. 

“Alex,” Maggie said slowly, almost warily, “There’s nothing there.”

“What do you mean there’s nothing there?!” Alex cried. “Don’t you - Don’t you see her?”

“See _who_?”

“Astra!”

Maggie exhaled slowly, her eyes filling with sympathy, and reached out to take Alex’s gun from her hand. “Baby, Astra died weeks ago.”

“B-But she’s right there, Maggie!”

The figure of Astra was, in fact, still standing in the doorway to Alex’s apartment, but her skin had taken on a sickly translucent pallor, and Alex didn’t recognise the woman in front of her anymore. 

“She’s not,” Maggie insisted. “I promise you, she’s not. Y-You were drugged, or something.”

Alex exhaled harshly, nearly choking on a sob that wanted to escape. “I’m exhausted.” She staggered forward, into Maggie’s waiting arms. “‘M so fucking tired, Mags.” She wasn’t sure what was happening or who to trust, but Maggie was warm and safe and Alex could almost forget about what she’d done when Maggie was next to her. 

Maggie gazed at her critically, wrapping her arms around the other woman. Truthfully, Alex knew Maggie’s firm grip was one of the only things keeping her upright. She was so fucking _tired_. “How long has it been since you slept?”

“I don’t know,” Alex admitted. “A few days, maybe?”

“Jesus, Alex,” Maggie breathed. 

“Sorry,” Alex mumbled. “It’s just, with the alien, and then Kara & Guardian, I didn’t have the time - ”

“Hey, Danvers?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.” 

Alex huffed out a laugh, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I like the sound of that,” Maggie teased, causing Alex to blush bright red and sputter indignantly. “Come on,” Maggie said, lacing hers and Alex’s fingers together. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“But - But Astra!” Alex gestured needlessly to the doorway where the alien stood over them, her eyes still unbelievably Kara-esque in a way that made Alex want to get blackout drunk in a shitty bar somewhere.

“You haven’t slept in days, Alex,” Maggie explained. “It’s probably a sleep deprivation hallucination. And if it’s not, if she’s still there in the morning, then we will deal with it. Okay?”

Alex hesitated. Astra was _there_ , she could see her clearly, and she was loath to think that sleep deprivation was behind her vision of the Kryptonian. But she trusted Maggie. 

“Okay,” Alex said quietly. 

“Thank you,” Maggie breathed, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders. “C’mon.”

With that, Alex followed Maggie into the apartment obediently and waited as she set up the bed for them, turning down the covers and throwing Alex a t-shirt and pyjama pants to change into. When everything was ready and she was in her sleep shirt herself, Maggie gestured Alex over with a wave of her hand and patted the side of the bed opposite her. Alex slid into her space gratefully, curling up next to Maggie.

Astra loomed over them in Alex’s peripheral vision.

The sight of Kara’s aunt made Alex’s chest tighten and she let out a hard breath, grasping Maggie’s shoulders hard. “Stay with me?” she pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut against the emotions churning in her stomach and burning their way up her throat. 

“Of course,” Maggie promised, one hand going to Alex’s auburn hair, fingers running through the thick strands. 

Alex took a deep, steadying breath and nodded. _Okay_. It was okay. It would be okay.

Alex knew she wouldn’t, could never, abandon someone she loved, or _anyone_ , for that matter, in a situation like this. She would kill herself before she let someone else endure pain or confusion that she could have saved them from. And she knew, deep down in her heart, that Maggie was the same way. So she took a deep, shaky breath and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. If Maggie said everything was alright, then it was. It had to be. Alex trusted Maggie, and she knew that Maggie didn’t take trust lightly. Her girlfriend had promised her, and Maggie didn’t break her promises.

Alex sighed and rolled over, tucking her face into the crook of Maggie’s neck. Here, with her, Alex was sure that she would be safe.

**Author's Note:**

> [Stalk me on Tumblr](http://moonlight-breeze-44.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Prompts are open, but very slow! Thanks for your patience! <3


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